Robert potts



(No Model.)

R. POTTS. REGISTERING GAGE FOR RAILWAY GAR BRAKES.

No. 403,210. Patented May 14, 1889.

Inventor E Du S S e flttorriey.

UNITED STATES Prion.

ATENT REGISTERING-GAGE FOR RAILWAY-CAR BRAKES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,210, dated May 14, 1889.

Application filed October 25,1888. Serial No. 289,166. (No model.) Patented in Canada October 30, 1888, No. 30,059.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT POTTS, of St. Thomas, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, a citizen of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators for the Air-Brakes of Railway-Cars; (for which I have obtained Patent No. 30,059, of the Dominion of Canada, bearing date October 30, 1888;) and I Clo-hereby declare that the following description of my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawings, forms a full, clear, and exact specifi cation, which will enable others skilled in the arts to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention has general reference to improvements in indicators for the airbrakes of railway-cars, the same being adapted to show at a glance the position which the piston of said air-brake occupied when the brakes were last applied.

My invention consists in the novel and peculiar combination of parts and details of construction, as hereinafter first fully set forth and described, and then pointed out in the claims.

The object of my said invention is the pro duction of a simple, cheap, and efficient device for indicating at a glance the position which the piston of the brake-cylinder occupied when the brakes were last applied, and thereby to indicate the available movement of the said piston or the brake-power left, if any, at the time of inspection of the brakes.

It is a well-known fact that when the brakeshoes of a car are somewhat worn or the rods have stretched, owing to the tensile stress to which they are subject, or the bolts or the bolt eyes have somewhat worn, there is a possibility of such car losing its entire brake-power, notwithstanding the fact that the brake cylinder and piston and other paraphernalia appertaining to the brake-operating mechanism may be in perfect order and the brakes properly operating when the engineer of the train applies the same, and that many serious accidents have happened, owing to the fact that a train was not under the control of the brakes, though the engineer had apparently applied the same.

Statistical observations have disclosed'the fact that at WVindsor, Ontario, for instance,

there arrived at that station on the Michigan Central Railroad during the year 1888 a total of fifteen hundred and ninety-three cars, not a single one of which had any brakepower, owing to the fact that the piston of the brake-cylinder reached the forward cylinderhead, for the reason that the shoes were either worn or that the rods had stretched beyond their limit and thereby deprived said cars of all brake-power. On October 16, 1888, Train [0. 5 of the Michigan Central Railroad, being the limited express of that road, arrived at said station with a large number of coaches and baggage-cars, of which but a single one had any brake-power left, all others having their pistons striking the forward head. What the result might have been had the engineer been compelled to stop his train on short notice in case of an accident may well be imagined. It is, furthermore, a fact that in ordinary train-service an air-brake consumes about one and one-half inch of piston travel of the brake-cylinder for every one hundred miles run, and that a train leavin g Washington, for instance, with all the pistons of the air-brakes at six inches travel will not reach WVindsor, Ontario, before its entire brake-power is consumed and before it would be utterly helpless as far as the brakes are concerned. At certain stations along the railroads are placed inspectors, whose dutyit is to inspect the brakes before the train leaves its station, and as soon as the locomotive has been attached to such train and the air-brake connections made the brakes are applied to ascertain their proper working condition. In these cases, however, there is usually no time to make adjustment, shorten brake-rods, &c., and should a piston be found that strikes its head it is frequently allowed to proceed to the next adjusting-station or until a stop of long enough duration is made to allow of making the adjustment. This inspection of the movement of the pistons of the brakes cannot be made until the brakes are applied, and this cannot be done until the very moment of departure of the train, it being a strict rule With most all railway-managers not to allow an engine to couple with its train until a few moments before the time of leaving, when, as

before stated, there is no time left for repairs, (to. To overcome these objections, and to enable an inspector to ascertain at any and all times the exact condition of the brake-power of his train, which is the obj cct of my present invention, I provide each car having the automatic air-brakes with an indicator, which shall at a glance show the exact posit-ion of the piston of the brake-cylinder when the brakes have been last applied, and thereby indicate the power, if any, still available, and the advisability of making the necessary adjustment at once or letting the car proceed to its next inspection-point a known number of miles distant.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a portion of a car-body provided with the automatic air-brake and having my indieater attached. Fig 2 is a similar view of the indicator. drawn to a somewhat larger scale.

Like parts are designated by OOI'I'OSPOIldlIlg letters of reference in both figures.

A is the usual body of a railway car, coach, or other vehicle provided with the automatic air-brakes, operated from the locomotive in the well-known manner.

B is the brake-cylinder, having the piston M, Fig. 1, and piston-rod D, the latter engaging the brake-lever E by the bolt F through the double eye cl on the end of said pistonrod. The cylinder is usually fastened to a cross-timber,i\l,being a heavy plank secured to the bottom of the body A. Either to this plank M or to a continuation, N, thereof I secure an indicator, G, consisting of two pendcnt standards, ll ll, having between them in the heads 72. 7b a fiat bar, I, provided on both its sides with a scale of inches and numbered from 1 to 12, respectively, there being placed upon this bar a slide, K, in the interior of which is located a curved spring, 0, bearing upon a feather, N, so as to securely retain said slide in any position to which it may be set, yet allow itto be shifted in a manner hereinafter to be described. This slide K has a downwardly-pointing projection, 717, which is of a length sufiicient to meet the upper portion of the double eye d in the following manner: The position of the foremost mark on the bar I, connting from the left, is such as to correspend with the position of the double eye when the piston is in its normal position that is to say, at the farther end of the cylinder-so that the slide being moved toward the cylinder will come in contact with the double eye at this first mark. If 110w the pis ton and its rod move outwardly, the slide K will be moved along its barI until the pistonrod retracts, when said slide will retain the position to which it has been moved by the rod until it is again moved. It will thus be observed that when the brakes are being applied and the piston-rod has moved the slide K as far as its own limit of motion the latter will indicate this limit of movement as long as it is not disturbed, and that an inspector of the car and brakes can at any moment see how far the piston has traveled and how much brake-power there is left in the brakes.

It is perfectly evident that instead of moving the slide K by contact with the pistonrod of the brake-cylinderl can attain the desired result more or less satisfactorily by attaching the indicator to the carbody, so that any other portion of the moving parts of the brake mechanism will move the slide K in the manner described without changing the nature of my invention. I prefer, however, to locate the indicator in the position specified, for the reason that in this position the best results can be obtained, owing to the fact that the wear of bolts, stretching of rods, &c., can have no influence upon the proper marking and reading of the slide K, andthereby prevent the introduction of errors which would defeat the object of my present invention.

The gage-barl is marked on both sides, (one only being shown in the drawings,) so that the readings of the indicator may be ascertained from either side of the car.

lvery time that adjustments of the brake rods, &c., have been made which affect the position of the piston of the air-brake the slide K has to be returned to its shortest position-a fact which will be evident from the nature of the case.

Having thus fully described my inx-ention, I claim as new and desire to secure to me by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. In ear-brakes, the indicator G, secured. to the bottom of the car-body and provided with a slide actuated by the piston-rod of the brake-cylimler in one direction only, said slide indicating the maximum motion of said brakepiston up to the time of inspection, it being independent of and disconnected from said brake mechanism, as and for the object set fort-h.

2. The combination, in brake-indicators, with the base N, of the standards ll ll, haw ing heads h 72,, the bar I, having scale-indications L, as described, and the slide K, retained in sliding position upon said rodbythe feather and spring, as and for the purpose set forth.

ROBERT POT'IS.

\Vitnesses:

.l'. J. BoUnNn, H. Moliv'rvnn.

ITS 

